In a meeting with campus press on Aug. 26 in her
recently unpacked office atop
Bascom Hill, new University of
Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor
Rebecca Blank stressed the
importance of building relationships with the campus community and legislators, upholding
responsibility to the state and
utilizing new revenue streams.
Blank, who previously served
under President Barack Obama
as Secretary of Commerce,
began her tenure as chancellor
in July, succeeding David Ward.
She said she is eager to begin the
year ahead and has many plans
for UW-Madison.
In terms of building relationships, Blank said it is important
for her to get to know the university by seeing firsthand how
it operates.
“I’ve visited every one of the
schools and colleges,” Blank said.
“I wanted to go physically over to
where they were as opposed to
having the dean come here into
my office. I want to see where
people live.”
Blank welcomed new students to campus by visiting residence halls on the first move-in
day, speaking an convocation
and celebrating the first football
game in true Badger fashion by
hosting a tailgate.
Blank also said she is concerned about her relationship
with legislators “at the other end
of State Street.”
“I really need to … feel like

we have pretty open lines of
communication, and that’s not
something you do with one
visit,” Blank said. “That’s something you do over time, getting to
know people.”
Still, she said her predecessor David Ward did an “excellent job” of maintaining relationships with these politicians, so
she doesn’t feel much need to do
catch-up work.
Beyond Madison, Blank feels
the university has an obligation
to give back to Wisconsin.

“Most people out there
aren’t very actively thinking... ‘Gosh, I wonder
what the University of
Wisconsin’s doing in my
community. If we don’t tell
them, they don’t know.”
Rebecca Blank
chancellor
University of Wisonsin-Madison

“I’m quite committed to the
idea that we have responsibility to
the state, that’s just fundamental
to our very founding,” Blank said.
Blank said the university
does provide benefits to the
state in many ways, such as
the medical school’s clinics and
the School of Education’s training for teachers. In addition,
she said UW-Madison has an
economic impact on the state.
For instance, many companies
come to Wisconsin because
they want connections with the
research university.

However, she said she feels the
university has not done a good
job with talking publicly about
these benefits.
“Most people out there aren’t
very actively thinking… ‘Gosh, I
wonder what the University of
Wisconsin’s doing in my community,’” Blank said. “If we don’t tell
them, they don’t know.”
In regard to tuition and funding, Blank said she believes the
school has done a good job of
leveraging state money, tuition
and federal research dollars, but a
fourth piece, private donor funding, will need more emphasis.
To increase these donations,
she said the school should work
with the alumni foundation to
launch a major fundraising campaign. Blank said certain projects around campus may appeal
to private donors, most of which
should not be funded by state and
tuition dollars.
“Some of that is building
some buildings that the state
is not going to fund, like an art
museum… but the right thing to
fund with private donor dollars,”
Blank said.
Overall, Blank said she missed
the energy of the college experience and is glad to be back.
“The fun parts of universities are that there are students
here,” she said. “And it’s one of
the things I have really missed
in the last five years that I’ve
been away from the universities.
You’re with all of these middleaged people and you just say,
‘Is there no one young around
here? Can we not have some
other conversations?’”

Recreational sports officials
are in the process of creating a
proposal, which if successful,
would lead to large-scale changes to campus recreation centers
and most likely an increase in
student segregated fees.
According to Recreational
Sports Director John Horn, Rec
Sports facilities, which include
the Natatorium, the Southeast
Recreational Facility, the
Nielsen Tennis Center and the
Shell, are outdated by at least
30 years.
In addition, Horn said
UW-Madison’s recreational
facilities total around 12,000
square feet and have over
100,000 eligible users. He said
colleges should have 1.5 square
feet of recreation space for every
eligible user, according to guidelines set by both the National
Intramural-Recreational Sports
Association and the American

College of Sports Medicine.
Instead of spending money
to maintain outdated buildings,
Horn believes it is more sensible
to develop a long-term strategy
to improve facilities.
To accomplish this, Rec
Sports created the Master Plan
Committee to bring staff and
students together to create a
proposal for expanding and
renovating current facilities.
In addition, two students also
started Badgers for Recreational
Reform, an organization that
hopes to gather ideas about
what students want from their
sports facilities.
“The rec centers are meant
for students; they’re the ones
who end up paying for them,”
said Dylan Fiedler, a University
of Wisconsin-Madison junior
and BRR member. “It’s important that their voices are heard.”
After planning is completed,

rec sports page 3

taylor galaszewski/the daily cardinal

Rec Sports officials are creating a referendum, that if passed
would renovate facilities such as the SERF, pictured above.

New ‘green’ residence hall
opens doors to students
By Megan Stoebig
the daily cardinal

The University of WisconsinMadison opened a new residence hall for fall 2013, named
Aldo Leopold Hall, which
focuses on educating students
about conservation and sustainable living habits.
The facility, which was temporarily called New 32 Hall,

is located next to Kronshage
Residence Hall on the west end
of campus. It was named in
July after former UW-Madison
professor Aldo Leopold, who
is often considered the father
of the wildlife management and
conservation movement.
Director of Marketing for

leopold page 3

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

page two
2

l

hi 75º / lo 55º

Fall Welcome Back Issue 2013

An independent student newspaper,
serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison
community since 1892
Volume 123, Issue 3

Business and Advertising
business@dailycardinal.com
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Dustin Bui • Bob Sixsmith
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TOMORROW
partly sunny
hi 82º / lo 55º

dailycardinal.com

sex and the student body

Taking the ‘pressure’ out of losing your V-card

edit@dailycardinal.com

tODAY
sunny

Alex Tucker
sex columnist

H

ello
friends,
and
welcome back to
Badgerland! As many of
you are new to campus and the
culture of college, it seems very
pertinent to talk about the old
V-card. In some ways, the concept
of virginity is completely made
up, as is most of the shame that
accompanies it. However, many
people view the whole idea as a
rite of passage, something most
people do that can open the doors
to many possibilities.
Although “sex” means different things to different people, I’m
using the word to mean vaginal or
anal intercourse. Similarly, “virgin” in this column means somebody who has yet to experience
vaginal or anal intercourse with a
penis or sex toy. Capisce?
In college, it seems like “everyone’s done it.” I’m here to dispel
that myth. As a college junior
with a diverse friend group (and

an obvious connection with the
sexually inclined) I can tell y’all
that about half of my close friends
have only recently had sex for the
first time or have yet to experience sex at all. In fact, more than
three quarters of college students
have intercourse with zero to one
new partner every year. So while
it may seem like people are getting
laid left and right, we should make
sure to do some digging before
comparing ourselves to those
around us. Pressure’s off!
Let’s say we do want to lose
our virginity. Before we’re ready
to do the deed, we should discuss
a few starting points that can help
us get our point started, if you
know what I mean. First of all,
we need to discuss—say it with
me—protection! Whether or not
we want to use a condom for our
first time is something we should
think about. If our partner has
been tested for STIs and birth
control is taken care of, if necessary, sometimes it’s most intimate
to leave certain types of protection out of the equation, as long as
we’re prepared.
As Sex Out Loud says, “the
wetter the sex, the better the sex!”
This is especially true if it is some-

body’s first time. In people with
vaginas, nerves can sometimes
make it difficult for all the juices to
flow. Anuses are never self-lubricating, so adding a couple of drops
of (condom-safe, if we’re using
that method) lube is a must during anal—first time or hundredth.
Whatever type of penetration we
choose to engage in, lube is always
the answer.
Lube can also be a great tool
to incorporate into foreplay. By
moving lube in and around, up
and down our partners’ genitals,
we can warm everyone’s body
up. Getting ready for penetration
can feel stressful for both parties
so it’s important to make sure
everybody is up for the task, pun
intended. So yeah, lube.
So now that our bodies are prepared, time to figure out who we
want to experience our first time
with. This decision is completely
up to us—whether we prefer a
good friend who we trust, our
partner who we are committed to,
or a rando we meet some Saturday
night, we get to choose what is
right for us. There are advantages
to each idea.
For example, a good friend
may know what they’re doing or

may care about our feelings more
than someone we don’t know
as well. A partner could understand our physical and emotional
needs more than a friend or new
person might. A random person
could help us get over the hump of
“doing it” without compromising
our established relationships.
Once we’re with our preferred
partner and our bodies are all
heated up, it’s time to take the
plunge! At Sex Out Loud, we
always say the receptive partner
should start out on top so they
can control the speed and depth of
the thrusts. Sometimes first-time
intercourse can be painful, so it’s
important to be in constant communication with our partners and
stay in tune with our bodies so we
don’t push ourselves too far.
For those of us who have
already had sex for the first time,
we can always work on making
our next time feel like our first
time again. We can always discuss
with our partner or partners how
to make an old experience feel
new, how to get those butterflies
back into our bellies.
Just lost your Dirty Bird
V-card? To ask Alex anything,
email sex@dailycardinal.com.

ane Kaiman is a graduate
of Cedarburg High School.
There, he scored a 5 on his
AP Psychology test, giving him the
authority to interpret the dreams
of all humans and some of the
earth’s more intelligent mammals.
Although he is considered by many
to be the world’s foremost expert in
the study of dreams, he himself has
never had one.
This week’s dream: “I was
standing near a white building
looking out across an incredibly
long beach. The building itself was
surrounded by sand, and I never
looked behind me, so I don’t know
if there was an end to the beach.
In the distance, maybe a few football fields away, was the ocean, but
the water was a slick black, like
oil. I walked inside the building,
which was the size of a small house,
and there was a man and a woman
inside. I think they were lifeguards
and that the building was where
they got prepared before walking
out to the ocean to do their jobs.
They left the building as I began to
put on some sunscreen, because it
was very hot and sunny outside. I
went back outside, and I saw that
the black ocean was rising. I started
to get really scared. The oil/water
was rising and rising, almost reaching the sky. I knew that a tidal wave
was coming soon. Attached to the
building was a wooden frame, and
I grabbed onto the top of it. I was
terrified, like I said before. Finally,
the water rushed over me, and I
held onto the wood for dear life. The
water rushed past me so hard that

my body was parallel to the ground.
Astonishingly, I managed to hold
on, and the wave passed by. Then
I woke up.”
-Quinn Labowitch, sophomore
One hundred percent accurate interpretation: Ah, the classic
“Tsunami Nightmare,” AKA “The
Big Wave;” I dealt with this one a lot
when I counseled troubled surfers
in the Maui area back in the ’90s.
During my stay in Hawaii, a
dream like this almost always preceded a violent mental breakdown.
In the summer of 1997 alone, three
separate clients attempted to strangle me with surfboard leashes.
I doubt you surf, but for safety’s sake it’s probably best that we
never meet.
Let’s get down to business. For
the surfers, the dream’s meaning
was obvious: They fantasized about
riding record-breaking waves but
doubted their abilities. However,
for a Badger like you, hundreds of
miles from the ocean, this dream
can only mean one thing: You’re
worried about climate change. The
rapidly rising water in your nightmare has an obvious connection
to the slower, but no less terrifying,
sea-level change that intellectuals,
like myself, have proven is taking
place on our planet as the polar
ice caps continue to melt. The fact
that the water is dark and oily is
another key piece of evidence. Oil
is a fossil fuel and when we burn it
for energy, it releases gases that heat
up the planet. To help avoid a recurring nightmare, I recommend you
put your mind at ease by spending
time picking up litter.
The seemingly endless beach
symbolizes your self-perceived
insignificance. You feel unimportant in the grand scheme of life.
You’re probably right. It’s unlikely
that you will ever make much of
a difference in the lives of all the

people living on earth, let alone
anything else living in the rest of the
universe, which is expanding as we
speak. One way to cope with this
feeling is to go outside and determine the fate of an anthill: smash it,
pour water on it, pull out the magnifying glass, whatever you want.
You may be inconsequential to the
human race, but to the ants, you’ll
be master of the cosmos.
It’s no surprise that the man
and woman in the building wanted
nothing to do with you and your
sunscreen. I’d be willing to bet that
you’re a fair-skinned young man
with a minor inferiority complex.
After a nightmare of this magni-

tude, bottle up all of your emotions
and carry on with your life as best
you can. A dangerous meltdown
that could lead to complete mental
disconnection from society is on
the horizon.
Stay strong, and keep it together!
P.S. Good thing you didn’t
drown there at the end. Remember,
it’s been proven that if you die in a
dream, you die in real life. That’s
why I always tell my clients to
make sure they wake up before
they die.
Have a dream you want Kane to
interpret? Email him at kaiman@
wisc.edu for his absolutely factually
expert advice!

A group of singing protesters in
the state Capitol continue to draw
attention to the ever-lengthening
list of arrests they are generating
as they protest permitting requirements for groups assembling within the Capitol.
The Solidarity Singers, a group
of protesters who voice their discontent with Gov. Scott Walker’s
leadership by singing, first took
their daily protest challenging the
new permitting rules inside the
Capitol July 17. There have been
more than 320 citations issued to
date for gathering without a permit.
The administrative rules,
passed by Walker’s Department
of Administration, originally
required all groups of four or
more to acquire a permit before
assembling in the Capitol, but
a ruling by U.S. District Court
Judge William Conley temporarily
revised the rules to take effect only
when groups consist of 20 or more
people. The ruling was the result
of an ongoing case brought by
Michael Kissick, a protester and
University of Wisconsin-Madison
professor, against the DOA.
While the protesters have
continued to wage their daily
standoff with Capitol Police,
they have garnered attention for
several notable arrests, including Ald. Mark Clear, District 19,
and Damon Terrell, a regular
Madison protester who lost a primary bid for the District 13 alder
seat during the 2012 election.
Clear was the first politician
arrested for assembling without a permit inside the Capitol.
He said he was arrested with-

leopold from page 1
University Housing Brendon
Dybdahl said the working greenhouse on the rooftop is one of the
most unique features of the new
building.
“As far as we know … this is the
only residence hall in the country
that has a working greenhouse
in it, so we’re pretty proud of it,”
Dybdahl said.
The building also has solar
panels to heat water, metered
rooms that allow residents to
track how much energy they
are using and a workshop in the
lower level for events.
The building itself was also

in one or two minutes of first
arriving to sing in the rotunda.
His lawyer has already
entered a not guilty plea on his
behalf, he added.
The alder said he disagrees
with the citations and Capitol
Police action because the singing protesters are exercising their
constitutional rights.
“I can understand people who
said that the daily event was
annoying, but annoying is also
constitutionally protected,” Clear
said, adding the right to assemble should specifically extend to
important political areas. “The
Capitol rotunda may be the most
important venue for protest in
the state.”
Terrell’s forcible Aug. 26 arrest
occurred after two Capitol Police
officers approached him, brought
him to the ground and pinned
him with the help of a third officer, according to video footage of
the arrest. Terrell maintains he
tripped while backing away from
the officers.
Terrell faces charges for
resisting arrest as well as the
possibility of a felony battery
charge after the incident.
The protests are set to continue indefinitely as neither
side has agreed to compromise.
However, Tom Kasper, a retired
state employee, has received a
permit for a group of separate
singers called Kapitol Singerz
for three days this month, adding another wrinkle to the saga
as protesters and police wait to
see if the permit will produce
any considerable changes.
The Capitol Police could not be
reached for comment.
constructed with environmentally conscious materials, according
to Dybdahl.
Leopold
Hall
houses
the
Greenhouse
Learning
Community, which is designed
for students who want to think,
work and live in more sustainable
ways, according to its website.
Lauren Mckay, a biology
major and freshman, said though
Leopold Hall was not her first
choice of residence halls, living in
the new dorm has already started changing her attitude toward
being environmentally conscious.
“I think I’ll actually start paying attention a little more to some
of the stuff I do,” McKay said.

jane thompson/the daily cardinal

Aldo Leopold Residence Hall opened to students this month
and offers sustainable designs such as a rooftop greenhouse.

courtesy of city of madison

The Hub will include 326 apartments, more than 100 parking spaces and a rooftop pool in a
12-story design to accomodate more than 1000 residents, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said.

Three restaurants displaced by State Street
redevelopment face uncertain futures
By Melissa Howison
the daily cardinal

Common Council’s Aug.
6 approval of Chicago-based
developing firm Core Campus’
bid to transform the 500 block
of State Street into a high-rise
apartment complex called The
Hub solidified the future of the
aisle previously inhabited by
Husnu’s, Kabul and Buraka;
three long-standing and beloved
restaurants that will be torn
down, according to Ald. Mike
Verveer, District 4.
In addition to Husnu’s, Kabul
and Buraka; who have yet to find
new spaces, Roast public house
will be moving across the street
to 558 State St., and Jimmy John’s
will resume operating from 527
State St., next to Mondays bar.

rec sports from page 1
students will need to approve a
referendum to authorize renovations. The Master Plan Committee
hopes to have core plans for the
proposal done by Thanksgiving,
which will allow enough time for
ASM to approve a referendum for
spring 2014 elections.
Renovating the recreational facilities would mean some
increase in segregated fees,
Horn said, unless private
donors cover all costs. The
committee is currently trying
to utilize sources like donors
as much as possible.
But, Horn also said he
hopes to ensure that segregated fees will not rise until the
new facilities are built, which
means increases would not
affect current students.
This year, undergraduates will each pay $73.56 in
segregated fees to Rec Sports,
according to the Office of the
Registrar. On average, Horn
said students attending Big
10 schools pay $230 yearly for
recreational facilities.
The Master Plan is still in
its beginning stages, so Horn
said the project’s cost or to
what extent segregated fees
will be affected is unknown.
However, Horn said a similar
project at the University of
Michigan cost $250 million,
which could be an estimate
for UW-Madison’s plan.
In addition to expanding
indoor facilities, Horn said
the committee is also explor-

Buraka
owner
Markos
Regassa said he would ideally
remain on State Street but said he
is afraid he will lose his restaurant
if he can’t obtain an adequate loan.
“I love Madison, I love the
people of Madison and that’s
why I have been in this business,” Regassa said. “And it’s
very, very unfortunate that I
might lose everything.”
Regassa said communication with the developers has
decreased since the initial proposal in the spring, but Verveer
said Core Campus “promised to
continue to try to help the businesses.” Aid includes providing
all three restaurants space on
the first floor of the new development. However, Regassa said
he foresees not being able to

afford the inflated rental fees.
The developers still have to
work out details with various
city agencies, before demolition
can begin, according to Verveer,
which Core Campus is hoping
will commence Jan. 2014 and be
completed by fall 2015.
Verveer likened the development to Lucky Apartments on
East Campus Mall and said a
“fair number of [University of
Wisconsin-Madison] students
will not be able to afford to live
at The Hub.”
Verveer also said the developers remain confident they will find
occupants, due in part to Madison’s
“record-low” vacancy rate and
Epic System stating they will hire
thousands of new employees over
the next few years.

ing the possibility of improving
outdoor fields by replacing them
with synthetic turf. Horn said 25
to 40 percent of outdoor activities, including club and intramural games and practices, are
canceled each year, mostly due
to the fact that current fields
cannot be used when wet.
The
Master
Plan
Committee and BRR are soliciting student input, and BRR

is recruiting members.
“We’re the ones who get to
make this choice, activate this
change and better this campus
for future students,” Fiedler
said. “It’s kind of shocking to
see how poor and dull our recreational facilities are when we go
to such a great school.”
For the feature-length version of this article visit www.
dailycardinal.com.

science
Hair cells may be new hearing loss cure
4

l

Fall Welcome Back Issue 2013

By Zhengzheng Zhang
The Daily Cardinal

Hearing is an essential function that enables people to take
part in daily communication,
appreciate music and nature,
and enjoy their life.
In the U.S., about 35 million
Americans suffer from hearing
impairments, with 2 million people completely deaf, according
to the National Organization for
Hearing Research Foundation.
Developing an effective therapy
for curing hearing loss is therefore a dream for both patients
and ear surgeons.
Samuel Gubbels, an assistant
professor at the Department of
Surgery and the Waisman Center
at the University of WisconsinMadison, recently reported that
his lab has been working to
regenerate a specific kind of ear
cell that takes the major responsibility for the human’s hearing
loss, called a hair cell.
Hair cells are the tiny, neural receptor cells in the human’s
inner ear. They are components
of a delicate inner ear organ
shaped like a snail shell, called a
cochlea. The cochlea plays a crucial role in the human’s hearing:
When sound waves travel from
the outer ear to the cochlea, hair
cells would receive the waves
and change them into electrical
impulses that are then transferred by auditory nerves to the

human brain.
“They are called hair cells,
because on the top of the cells,
there are little projections, which
look like a bush of hairs on the
cells,” Gubbels said.
According to him, each person has thousands of hair cells
in the inner ear. The more the
hair cells are lost, the worse a
person’s hearing would be.
“Most of the time, about 80
percent of the patient cases,
when the human loses hearing, it is because the hair cells
have been lost in the inner ear,”
Gubbels said.
Unlike certain species—like
some birds, fish or amphibians
­­— who can regenerate their hair
cells when lost, once the human’s
hair cells are damaged or dead,
whether it is due to noises, drugs
or aging, the hearing would be
lost permanently.
Thus, if hair cells could be
regenerated by scientists and
transplanted into the human’s
inner ears, there may be
chances that hearing impairment could be cured at its root,
according to Gubbels.
Current medical treatments for
hearing loss patients include using
hearing aids and cochlea implants.
Although those therapies have
worked well for thousands of
patients, the help is still limited
and has several disadvantages.
For example, hearing aids

Will You
To Make a Difference?
You Decide.
Wisconsin Dance Marathon

is a year-round student-run organization that works to
support patients and families at the American Family
Children’s Hospital. Throughout the year, Dance
Marathon raises funds FOR BUCKY’S KIDS and in
March a 15-hour event is held as a tribute to the
children who are being treated at AFCH.

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are sound-amplification devices,
which can only stimulate the
hair cells that are still alive. Since
different hair cells are sensitive
to different sound frequencies,
even with the help of the hearing
aid, patients still have difficulty
hearing certain sounds.

graphic by Haley Henschel

Cochlea implants, small but
complex electronic devices that
function by directly simulating
the auditory nerve, work well
by bypassing the hair cells.
However, the surgery implanting the devices is expensive and
has certain risks such as infection. Patients also are required
to wear the electronic device for
their entire lifetime. Moreover,

dailycardinal.com

according to Gubbels, the sounds
that the patients hear through
the cochlea implants are not natural sounds and are more like
electronic or synthesized sounds.
In America, hearing loss
due to hair cell damage or damage to the auditory nerve has
affected the ability to communicate for more than 22 million
people, according to the NOHR
foundation. Thus, if scientists
can find a solution that triggers
the hair cell’s regeneration, then
replacing dead hair cells with
new ones would be a much more
effective therapy for treating
hearing impairment.
Although in recent years,
some scientists have been able
to regenerate certain human
organs like neural tissues, or
even some sorts of ear cells, in
the laboratory, hair cell regeneration is still a pioneer research
and full of challenges.
“We don’t know how to do it
for hair cells, there is no route
map for how we do this. It is a lot
of trial and error,” Gubbels said.
But ongoing trial and error
has led Gubbels’ lab on the way.
So far, the group has found a
method that can turn stem cells
into a specific sort of inner ear
cells, called the progenitor. The
progenitor cells are “parent”
cells of hair cells, which have the
potential to develop into the hair
cells and other ear cells.

Previous researchers have
reported that hair cells are hard
to root in the places where they
should be. Progenitors are a
good solution to this problem
because of their ability to take
the root in the inner ear where
the cells are needed.
Gubbels’ lab is now working to investigate how the progenitor cells can be grown into
hair cells in the lab culture.
According to the NOHR foundation, a breakthrough finding
reported by several labs in 1993
has shown the existence of progenitors in mammalian ears,
such as the mouse. Although
there is no evidence to show
whether a human will still retain
progenitors after birth, investigating how the progenitors can
be evolved into hair cells is an
essential step to a more effective
hearing loss therapy.
Gubbels’ team now is also
drafting a research paper on its
findings and hopes to be published soon.
As every pioneer scientific research does, hair cell
regeneration therapy could be
a lengthy year and a difficult
task, but Gubbels is optimistic
about the future.
“I do know when I see a baby
right now who hasn’t any hearing whatsoever, probably in her
lifetime, [she] will have regenerate therapy available for her.”

Childhood stresses may trigger
the later onset of anxiety in girls
By Danielle Smith
The Daily Cardinal

When exposed to high-stress
situations, the normal physiological reaction is for the body
to release a hormone called cortisol, which prepares people for
a fight-or-flight response to the
stressor. However, according to
a study done at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison in the
laboratory of psychology professor Seth Pollak, this reaction does not occur in girls who
experienced physical abuse in
their developmental years.
The study stemmed from an
experiment in which a group
of boys and girls, ages 8 to 11,
were placed in front of a panel
of strangers and asked to do on
-the-spot math calculations and
give impromptu speeches. While
most of the children responded
to the situation with the expected
cortisol rush, “there was a specific group from our experiments
who did not follow the usual pattern, and in fact they followed
the opposite pattern,” said Leslie
Seltzer, a postdoctoral researcher
involved in the study.
The subgroup Seltzer was
referring to was composed
of girls who had a history of
child abuse. Their hormonal
stress reaction was an increase
in a hormone called oxytocin,
which influences people to form
attachments and trust and is
typically associated with more
inviting, happier situations.
This reaction reveals useful information about the coping mechanisms developed
from early onset abuse, but the

increase in oxytocin levels can
also help explain patterns of
more troublesome behaviors
later in these girls’ lives.
“We found that possibly, due
to this reaction, girls who have
this early experience engaged
in sexual behavior earlier on,
got pregnant earlier, and ultimately ended up more prone to
riskier behaviors,” Seltzer said.

“There are so many individuals who have suffered
from the effects of physical
abuse.”
Leslie Seltzer
scientist

In today’s society, these
tendencies are often seen as
socially unacceptable. However
the researchers in Pollak’s lab
argue that this release of oxytocin is actually an adaptive reaction developed over thousands
of years to give people who’ve
had these experiences a leg up
to make up for the traumatic
effects of the abuse.
“We may not actually want
to change this because it may
actually be an adaptive strategy
regardless of the fact that these
behaviors are social ills of modern western society,” said Seltzer.
Pollak’s lab discoveries of this
release of oxytocin have also lead
to new insight in other kinds
of psychological studies. For
example, research being done
on the effects of dysfunctional

adult relationships can now be
explained in some cases by examining a person’s history of abuse
instead of looking solely at his or
her adult behavioral choices.
“This is the first time that
those kinds of hormonal patterns have suggested that it may
not in fact be a result of their
adult relationships but something developed earlier in life,”
Pollak said.
The reaction to the release
of Pollak, Seltzer, and their colleagues’ findings created a lot
of buzz on the popular social
news website, Reddit. The press
release received over 160,000
hits, which is more than any
news story that has ever come
out of UW-Madison’s website.
“The comments on that
Reddit thread I think are
incredibly moving and telling and of course heartbreaking,” said Seltzer. “There are
so many individuals who have
suffered from the effects of
physical abuse.”
There are many situations
in life that can lead people to
engage in risky or somewhat
negative social behaviors.
Findings like those of Pollak
and his colleagues can help predict which individuals are more
likely to go down these paths,
making it easier to administer
help in dealing with them.
Seltzer said on the future
impact of their findings, “we
hope that in the future we can
discover the roots behind what
we consider to be socially maladaptive social behavior and we
can help more people later on.”

dailycardinal.com

Fall Welcome Back Issue 2013 5
l

arts

‘Closed Circuit’ lacks
an electrifying plot line
By Caleb Nesser
The Daily Cardinal

I don’t like movies about government conspiracies. Every
time I see a film wherein a
modern-day government (or a
body within that government)
is depicted as the antagonist,
my immediate thought is, “Why
the heck would this government
allow somebody to make a movie
wherein they are depicted as the
antagonists?” Perhaps there’s a
form of subtle commentary there
that I’m not seeing. But regardless, it’s a reliable way to completely disintegrate my willing
suspension of disbelief.
Obviously, I have just spoiled
the major plot twist of “Closed
Circuit,” so now you don’t have
to go to a cinema to watch it.
You’re welcome. It’s a mawkish, disorganized and unfocused
film that is only made watchable by virtue of it being embarrassingly well-acted. Typically,
enjoying the chemistry of a good
cast might be enough to call
“Closed Circuit” a decent flick,
but the ideas that it wants to
play with are the real meat of the
story. “Closed Circuit” fumbles
these so badly that not even Jim
Broadbent’s delicious malignity
as the corrupt, soft-spoken attorney general can salvage it from
the turgid waters of banality.
“Closed Circuit” is one of those
infuriating movies that try to tug
the heartstrings with a shoddy
narrative framework whilst
ignoring the real questions being
raised by its themes. The major
question being asked seems to be
one of judicial power’s corruption
and the regulation thereof, but
the film never explicitly ties anything relevant to this otherwise
important issue.
The narrative’s main focus
is on Claudia Simmons-Howe
and Martin Rose—played by
Rebecca Hall and Eric Bana—as
ex-lovers and lawyers, defending a man accused of bombing a crowded London market.
And throughout a likewise predictable plot, the movie seems
much more interested in their
past affair rather than making
any kind of thoughtful commentary on the events unfolding. While it is fun to see the
actors enjoying themselves, the
roles they fill are empty—without any thematic meaning tied
to them.

At its core, the problem with
the film’s narrative is not a thematic one or even a structural
one. What bothers me is that
the film is so bloody predictable.
I was never once surprised or
interested at the characters’ revelations because I saw them coming. “Oh no, we’re being monitored!” Uh, duh. “Oh, no! MI6
was paying the terrorists!” Yep,
we’ve got a masterful screenwriter working his magic back here.
“OH, NO! THEY’RE COMING
TO KILL US!” For Pete’s sake…
All the built-up tension was lost
because everybody was dancing
to an old song so overplayed it
gets in the way of some very fine
acting and cinematography.
And then there’s the ending.
Needless to say, we’re re-entering
spoiler town now, so bail if you
still insist on seeing this movie.
By the time the two lawyers have
gotten their evidence to the court
and are ready to bring the justice
system crashing down around its
own alabaster columns, the attorney general already had their
client murdered and his death
framed as a suicide.
Whilst this might seem like a
gutsy and original play to some
moviegoers, it really isn’t. It was
another event bound to happen.
The antagonists already established their willingness to murder lawyers, journalists and even
children to keep their secrets
under wraps. Why wouldn’t
they kill a guy they had sitting
around in a cramped, padlocked
cell to render the protagonists’
efforts moot? MI6 isn’t about to
be toppled in a day by two uppity
defense attorneys and a kid from
Turkey. They’re a little bit more
competent than that. It bothers
me this ending is becoming a
staple of government conspiracy
cover-up thrillers. You know why
I liked the movie “Eagle Eye”?
Because it was as far removed
from pretentious realism and it
still had something to talk about.
“Closed Circuit” isn’t a bad
film, but it’s not a good one either.
It tries to be an interesting and
thought-provoking drama, and
succeeds only at ripping off a
bleached, monochromatic aesthetic from the BBC’s “Sherlock.”
Perhaps if you don’t care about
any of that, you’ll get some enjoyment out of the film. Otherwise,
wait until “The Fifth Estate”
comes out.

irectly following Miley
Cyrus’ asinine performance at the Video
Music Awards, it seemed as
if every corner of the Internet
swelled with commentary on
the pop singer’s desperate publicity stunt. And as expected,
the satire empire that is The
Onion took it upon themselves
to not only comment on the shenanigan, but also shift the focus
to where it was deserved—mass
media and the news outlets that
turned what should have been a

public embarrassment into an
issue of national concern.
On Aug. 26, The Onion posted a fake op-ed accredited to
CNN.com’s managing editor
Meredith Artley entitled “Let
Me Explain Why Miley Cyrus’
VMA Performance Was Our
Top Story This Morning.” The
piece can be summarized with
the following statement taken
from the article: “Those of us
watching on Google Analytics
saw the number of homepage
visits skyrocket the second we
put up that salacious image
of Miley Cyrus dancing half
nude on the VMA stage. But
here’s where it gets great: We
don’t just do a top story on the
VMA performance and call it a
day. No, no. We also throw in

a slideshow called ‘Evolution
of Miley,’ which, for those of
you who don’t know, is just
a way for you to mindlessly
click through 13 more photos of Miley Cyrus. And if we
get 500,000 of you to do that,
well, 500,000 multiplied by 13
means we can get 6.5 million
page views on that slideshow
alone. Throw in another slideshow titled ‘6 ‘don’t miss’ VMA
moments,’ and it’s starting to
look like a pretty goddamned
good Monday, numbers-wise.”
And that’s exactly it—journalism is a business of numbers.
A BUSINESS. Meaning for-profit, for personal gain, for themselves. And even though this
op-ed was indeed a fake story, all
effective satire makes a mockery

dailycardinal.com

of the truth. The idea that news
outlets choose stories based
on what the public deserves to
know is simply naive. If that
were the case, the average individual’s knowledge of our potential involvement in a Syrian civil
war, in which we support the
“rebels” of Al Qaeda, would be
much greater than it is. The fact
of the matter is, transparency
is only clear as public interest
allows it to be. If CNN were
guaranteed the same number of
hits on an article of legitimate
substance as they are on a meaningless non-issue regarding a
celebrity performing a routine
dreamed up by a money-hungry
publicist, perhaps things would
be different.
So that poses the question:

Can a for-profit industry perform a genuine civil service
with the public’s best interest
at heart? Or, as demonstrated
through CNN.com, HuffPost and
countless other news sources, is
economics the deciding factor in
what we accept as “public interest?” It’s sad to say that the present state of affairs is in shambles,
yet our media are more concerned with appearances, fads,
trends and gossip rather than
the pressing issues at hand. But
those are the stories that sell.
And until public interest shifts
toward legitimate issues, this is
how things will stay.
Nikki is a junior majoring in
communication arts. Questions or
comments? Please send all feedback
to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

he most frustrating
question I was asked
this past summer was,
“Why did you choose to go to
school in Wisconsin?”
Coming
from
east
Tennessee, it is an appropriate
question, but nonetheless, a
difficult one to answer. My dad
graduated here, and it’s always
been a dream school of mine.
That’s usually my response. In
reality, though, the answer is
much more complicated. Much
like Robert Frost’s famous
poem “The Road Not Taken,”
I had two general choices in
deciding where I wanted to go
to college. I could either stay
in-state and most likely go to

the University of TennesseeKnoxville, or go out-of-state.
Like the narrator in the poem,
I wouldn’t consider either
path the road less traveled, but
rather both equally as traveled upon; many of my friends
stayed in-state, and it was
hardly uncommon to go to
school out-of-state.
I chose to go to the University
of Wisconsin-Madison because
I needed a change of pace. I
needed to branch out and get
out of my comfort zone. And
isn’t that really the quintessential college theme? I may
not necessarily be taking the
road less traveled by going
to an out-of-state school like
UW-Madison, but hopefully by
being as active on campus as
possible, I can help create my

own proverbial road. To me,
that’s what really makes college special. It’s where we as
students learn more about ourselves. We are able to branch
out and emphasize each unique
perspective that helps us differentiate from our peers. In
college, each student can create his or her own unique and
individual “road less traveled”
through his or her involvement
on campus and in the community. But of course, there are
other reasons to get involved
as well.
I, like the majority of
students from outside the
Madison area, will have at
least a few times in which I’m
going to miss my family and
friends back home. There will
definitely be times where I’ll be

thinking about specific people
and wishing I could see them.
By keeping involved in campus affairs, not only can students help to make themselves
stand out, but we can also use
our involvement to distract us
from thinking about the loved
ones we are missing.
While we come to this school
as one body and one class, we
each have unique talents and
mindsets that separate us from
others. This potential can either
be ignored, or we can take a leap
of faith and dive into the vast sea
of clubs, organizations and activities offered by UW-Madison,
and use these talents or interests
to mold and shape our futures
and our road ahead. Each student travels on his or her own
road. No one else can claim to

be the exact same person with
the exact same interests, hobbies
and goals as another. However, if
we choose to pass up opportunities around campus, we might
end up missing out on discovering who we are—not only as
students at this university, but
also as individuals. So this fall,
let’s all try to take the road less
traveled and get involved—meeting new people and doing new
things, and in the process, discovering ourselves.
Allen is a freshman with an
undecided major. How do you
plan on making your college experience a memorable one? Do you
feel the university offers a wideenough range of clubs and activities? We would love to know your
thoughts! Please send all feedback
to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

Hey, you! We want to know what you're thinking!
Come to our recruitment meetings Sept. 13 and Sept. 27 at 4 p.m. in 2195 Vilas for all
things Cardinal!

Sports

fall welcome back issue 2013
DailyCardinal.com

Running away with it

Grey Satterfield/the daily cardinal

Redshirt sophomore running back Melvin Gordon found his groove early, scoring
a 70-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Gordon had 13 carries for 144 yards.

For every change the Badgers
made this offseason, it looked
like Wisconsin used the same
old winning recipe Saturday
as first-year head coach Gary
Andersen used a strong rushing
attack to lead the way in a 45-0
victory over Massachusetts.
A slow start for redshirt

sophomore quarterback Joel
Stave turned into an explosive
second half as he connected with
redshirt senior wide receiver
Jared Abbrederis for two long
touchdowns in the third quarter.
The Badgers received first
possession and found themselves on the scoreboard just
two minutes and 30 seconds
into the game. Aided by a
47-yard run by senior running
back James White, Stave ran the
final four yards across the goal
line to score the first points.
In the first half of the game
Wisconsin dominated on the
ground but struggled to pass.
Stave had just four completions on
11 attempts and one interception.
Both redshirt sophomore
running back Melvin Gordon
and White played fairly equally
and were alternated into the
offense without much trouble.
Gordon finished the game

Grey Satterfield/the daily cardinal

Senior running back James White breaks the game open Saturday on the Badgers’
first possession with a 47-yard run. White finished with 11 carries for 143 yards.

with 13 carries for 144 yards
and White ended with 11 carries
for 143 yards.
Andersen said that he was
pleased with the play of his
running backs.
“We’re very fortunate to have
three talented running backs,
James [White] and Melvin
[Gordon] are a tandem and
work well together.” Andersen
said. “We look forward to seeing that all season long.”
Freshman running back Corey
Clement made his mark late in
the game, rushing for 101 yards
on 16 carries. Andersen acknowledged that the performance from
Clement was one UW has seen
throughout practice.
The offensive line played
well from the onset, allowing
Stave to find his groove after an
early interception in the first
quarter. The line also allowed
White and Gordon plenty

of room to move, something
Gordon was appreciative of.
“[The holes] were pretty
nice,” Gordon said. “The guys
set it up pretty nice for us.”
The second half was a different story for the Badgers’
passing game, starting with
Stave’s 65-yard touchdown pass
to Abbrederis on Wisconsin’s
first play from scrimmage.
Abbrederis went on to score
another touchdown on a reception from Stave for 57 yards. Stave
ended the day 9-of-17 for 197 yards.
Andersen said his guys
showed who they were when
redshirt senior quarterback
Curt Phillips gave his playing
time to redshirt freshman Bart
Houston in the fourth quarter.
“That’s a tremendous kid,
unselfish, and excited about
being part of this team,”
Andersen said.
Houston played the remain-

der of the game, completing his
only passing attempt for 8 yards.
The Wisconsin defense had
a stand-up day as well, keeping
UMass off scoreboard entirely. The
Minutemen looked poised to score
when sophomore kicker Blake
Lucas connected on a 40-yard field
goal attempt, but it was wiped off
following a UMass timeout.
Lucas’ second attempt
missed wide left.
On the defensive side of the
ball, Andersen was quick to
praise the play of true freshman cornerback Sojourn
Shelton, who started the game
and snagged an interception in
the third quarter.
“He was not starry-eyed,”
Andersen said. “He was ready
to go from the first snap.”
Wisconsin
will
host
Tennessee Tech Sept. 7 at Camp
Randall. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

Men’s soccer holds on to force tie in regular season opener
By Jonah Beleckis
The Daily Cardinal

It may be a new season for
the Wisconsin men’s soccer team
(0-0-1 overall), but not much
has changed on the field for the
Badgers. In a physical and defensive game, Wisconsin came back
to tie the University of MissouriKansas City (0-0-1 overall) 1-1 in
its regular season opener.
The Kangaroos started the
scoring midway through the

first half when a long ball played
into the Badger penalty area was
headed in by sophomore midfielder Derek Schrick. In his
first start for Wisconsin, redshirt freshman goalkeeper Casey
Beyers was caught off guard
when Schrick slipped between
two defenders to beat Beyers to
the ball for what should have
been an easy save.
With six seconds remaining
in the first half, the Badgers

shifted momentum their way
and tied the game. After a set
piece put the ball in the danger area, senior forward Toni
Ramadani turned a chaotic
scramble in front of the net into
a Wisconsin equalizer.
Head coach John Trask remains
unbeaten in season openers for the
Badgers, moving to 2-0-2.
Overall, Wisconsin has
maintained its strong defensive
reputation in the preseason.

However, scoring continues to
be an issue for the Badgers with
only two goals in two preseason
games. The last time Wisconsin
scored more than one goal in a
competitive game was against
the Kangaroos Oct. 24 last season, winning 2-0.
Despite his costly error in the
first half, Beyers tallied four saves
and kept UMKC at bay in 110 minutes of play.
Last season’s main goalkeep-

er, Chase Rau transferred to
Western Michigan in the offseason. A rumor that surfaced
cited a lack of available scholarship funds.
As if it were scripted, Rau
will return to Madison Sept.
6 when the Broncos come for
Wisconsin’s home opener. All
students will receive free admission to the McClimon Complex
for the fifth annual PAC the
MAC event.